In general, avoid abbreviations in running text. The ampersand (&) is not a substitute for and. Use abbreviations and the ampersand only when part of official names. If the name of the abbreviation may be unknown to some readers, use the full name on first reference. See individual entries for usage for specific abbreviations.

Capitalize and spell out formal titles such as professor, dean, president, chancellor, professor emeritus, and chair when they precede a name: Chancellor John Doe, Professor Jane Doe, Dean John Smith; but John Doe, chancellor; John Smith, dean; or Jane Doe, professor. Lowercase modifiers: music professor Jane Doe, department chair Jane Doe, or Jane Doe, professor of music. Capitalize formal titles of named professorships on all references: Jane Doe has been named the Bascom Professor of Art; Jane Doe, Bascom Professor of Art, received the award; Jane Doe, Bascom Professor Emerita of Art, gave the lecture. Named/endowed professorships, deanships, and the like should be listed before other titles in signature lines and biographies. See also titles of people.

acronyms and initialisms

Although we refer to campus units by acronyms in speech and internal publications (such as DoIT for the Division of Information Technology), acronyms should not be used exclusively except for those commonly used both inside and outside the university community (NASA, FBI). To eliminate confusion when using lesser-known acronyms, spell out the full name on the first mention, with the acronym in parentheses following. Acronyms are made plural by adding an s if there are no periods in the acronym (IOUs) and adding ’s if there are periods in the acronym (vol.'s). See the Chicago Manual of style for more on the appropriate use of acronyms.

AD

stands for anno Domini, Latin for in the year of the Lord; do not use periods; AD precedes the year; See also CMS 9.34

addresses

In running text, use numerals and figures for numbered addresses (123 Main Street) and spell out the words Street, Avenue, Place, Boulevard, etc. (except for news releases on copy for Inside UW-Madison, in which such words are abbreviated when using numbered addresses). Abbreviate directions in street names: single-letter directions take a period (N, Main Street, E. Washington Avenue); Two-letter abbreviations take no period (NW Maple Street, Seventh Avenue, SE). Include the complete campus street addresses only when publicizing an off-campus event and for publications intended for off-campus audiences. Separate the street address, phone, web address, and the like, with a semicolon and one space between the state abbreviation and zip code. Department of Economics, 7470 Social Science Building, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706; 608-263-2989; fax 608-262-0000; economics@mail.admin.wisc.edu; www.wisc.edu/economics/. Include area codes for telephone and fax numbers when the audience is off campus.

admissions, admissions office, Office of Admissions and Recruitment

lowercase unless referring to the formal office name

advisor, adviser

Use advisor for admissions, academic advising, and housing materials. Use adviser for all other uses. It is most important to be consistent within a single publication or family of publications.

affiliate group

groups that were created by the Wisconsin Alumni Association and remain affiliated with the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.

African American

no hyphen for noun or adjective usages, but hyphenate nouns and adjectives (AP style) for newswriting: African-American

Agricultural Hall

not Agriculture Hall

air force

see CMS 8.112

Al-Qaeda

not Al-Qaida

all of a sudden

not all of the sudden

All Ways Forward

the name of the current comprehensive campaign

all-American

always hyphenated; all is always lowercase unless it refers to the Associated Press–chosen All-American football or basketball team.

All-Campus Party (ACP)

a week of free, alcohol-alternative events for students hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Student Board (WASB)

Never use club, even though some Wisconsin Alumni Association alumni chapters refer to themselves that way; terms such as group or alumni community are acceptable to provide variety. Use alumni chapter as a generic reference, and use, e.g., Seattle alumni chapter or Seattle chapter as a quasi-generic reference. For specific references, use the WAA reference first (written out or abbreviated as WAA), then a colon, then the capitalized word Chapter, as in Wisconsin Alumni Association: Fox Valley Chapter; WAA: Fox Valley Chapter; Wisconsin Alumni Association: Big Apple Badgers Chapter; WAA: Motor City Badgers Chapter.

alumni directory

lowercase when referring to the online directory

Alumni For Wisconsin (A4W)

capital F on For

alumni learning

lowercase for this segment of WFAA operations

Alumni Park

the new park and green space between One Alumni Place and the Memorial Union Terrace; opened in October 2017; capitalize these areas of the park: Badger Pride Wall, Alumni Way, Progress point, The Lantern; do not capitalize these areas of the park: the fountain, welcome plaza, Bucky Badger sculpture (its title is Well Red), outdoor classroom; the park's website is https://www.alumnipark.com/

alumni travel

lowercase for generic references to this segment of WAA operations, but use WFAA Travel when referring to the department

alumnihood

lowercase, one word

alumnus, alumna, alumni, alumnae

Use alumnus (alumni in the plural) when referring to a person who identifies as a man who has graduated from a school. Use alumna (alumnae in the plural) for similar references to a person who identifies as a woman. Use alumni when referring to groups that include both men and women. In most informal usages, alum is an acceptable alternative. These terms can also be used for people who attended a school, but did not graduate.

American Indian Advisory Council (AIAC)

American Players Theatre (APT)

not Theater

ampersand

the ampersand (&) is not a substitute for and; use it only when an entity includes it as part of its official name

Annual Campaign

refer to this as the University of Wisconsin–Madison Annual Campaign, with initial caps, on first reference; UW–Madison Annual Campaign is also acceptable. use Annual Campaign (uppercase) on second reference, a generic reference with the year would be, e.g., 2017 Annual Campaign (uppercase).

use UW instead of UW–Madison on second reference when referring to athletics teams

athletics department

In formal references, use UW Department of Athletics or Department of Athletics; in informal references or on second reference, use athletics department (with an s on athletics); as a generic description of the sports program in general, UW athletics is acceptable.

awards, prizes

uppercase Award or Prize when referring to a specific award (Sparkplug Award), but lowercase when generic (the award); see also CMS 8.82

Axe

with a final e in reference to the Badgers’ football rivalry with Minnesota for Paul Bunyan’s Axe